Iridescent Tears
by Andrea Falls
Summary: Even Ferals Make Mistakes...right?
1. The Strong Child

Author's Note; I own Keka and Pren, but Hank McCoy, Wolverine, and Sabretooth are all property of Marvel Comics(The gods of the industry), and I am no more then a lowly Fan girl with free time...please review.  
  
  
  
Keka tore through the woods, away from the scents of the far off lab and along the strong trail of sweet rain, panting, feeling the muscles in her fierce legs strain and throb, her arms pumping at her sides. She was on the hunt.  
  
~15 Years Earlier~  
The tiny child pulled herself into the dark hole in the concrete wall, the silent, hot tears streaming down her icy skin. She closed her eyes, afraid that their strange, faint glow would give her away, and focused her small, pointed ears, hearing the footsteps that chased her.  
"Keka! Show yourself, Now!"  
The harsh voice was close by, and Keka smelled anger coming off the man that it belonged to. She smoothly pulled herself into a tighter ball, sniffing soundlessly in the air. She could smell others with him now. She was sure that she didn't know them-their scents were new.  
"Where'd the little half breed go?" A female's voice spoke with disgust.  
"Shut up-she's seven for Christ's sake-she can understand you. And you're dealing with a feral-She can hear ever breath you take."  
"And every move you make..." Cooed an unfamiliar male voice.  
"Shut up! Keka?"  
Keka sucked in a silent breath, breathing evenly through her small nose.  
"Come on-I hear something up ahead. She's probably still running." The known man said, irritated, moving away. The other two followed him.  
Finally, Keka peeked out of the hole, seeing no one around. She climbed down, taking off in the opposite direction, moving without making a sound, her tiny feet barely hitting the ground before the other was trading it off. She turned down into an alleyway, pumping her small legs as fast and hard as she could.  
Keka skidded to a halt, trying to quiet her breathing. She could hear a deep baritone growl from somewhere in the darkness. It seemed to surround her. Her ears pulled back in fear and her eyes widened, searching the gloom.  
"Who's there?" She asked, trying to sound fearless. "Who...who's making that noise?"  
The growl continued, low and somehow unthreatening. It was the bodylessness of the sound that scared her.  
Keka turned to look at a seemingly darker blackness to her left, watching the shape move, and feeling her right ear twitch uncontrollably. She heard a footstep behind her and spun to see iridescent circles in the darkness, just before she felt large hands take hold of her petite body, lifting her off the ground and yanking her into a doorway, snatching her into a building before she had the chance to scream.  
Keka kicked, letting out a scant growl of her own, trying to free herself from the strong hands and arms that grasped her closely to a warm body *much* bigger then her own. She refused to cry out.  
"Stop moving." A surly male voice chided her, securing her in his arm and taking one of her little paw like hands in his.  
Keka fell still when the hand closed gently around hers. The soft sincerity of it was new to her, and something she hadn't expected from the stranger who'd seized her out of the dark.  
"Who are you?" she asked softly, putting her other hand over his, feeling for a visual. He had sharp claws and thick fingers, soft and almost fuzzy.  
"Someone who can relate to you." He said in a calm voice. She noticed for the first time, that they were walking.  
"Why did you grab me?"  
"Later, little one." He shifted her, pulling her protectively into his arms, curling his hand delicately around her neck.  
Keka felt safe and warm for the first time in a long time, resting her head against the big man's chest. Animal instincts told her that he wouldn't hurt her; his heartbeat was steady and strong, and he gave off a calm, familiar scent. Her eye lids felt heavy and warm, finally dry of tears.  
  
~Present Day~  
Keka looked into the rising light, seeing the broken battlefield. The luscious sky lit with colours, shining on the dead and dying in the valley below her. It hadn't been a war, and therefore wasn't a battlefield, but there was a sense of death in the air all the same. Keka had arrived after the scientists had done their bidding, leaving animal and mutant children alike in the darkness. She had picked through, healing who she could and leaving the rest.  
"There's something more special to be saved this day, Keka." She whispered, turning and moving on. 


	2. The Painted Skys

Author's note; Wow. I got a review! I am happy!Thank you LEM!  
This entire thing is a labor of love to me(I am honestly proud of this work), and it IS finished, and so two chapters will probably go up at a time from now on. Enjoy.  
  
  
  
~15 Years Earlier~  
Keka woke up later, when the sun was beginning to rise into the sky, staining the clouds pink and orange. She looked around, seeing what she had sensed; she was alone in the room. But the man from the night before wasn't far off.  
She looked down at herself; covered in knicks and bruises, dirty and barefoot with a tattered dress. She closed her eyes and felt the familiar, concentrated warmth covering her body. Soon, her cuts were gone, though she was still bruised and dirty.  
"You're awake."  
She looked up, her muscles tensing and her ears leaping alert. She caught the same scent from the night before, but more cautious. She could faintly hear his heartbeat in her ears, still strong.  
"It's okay, Little one." The same low toned voiced addressed her with concern, walking over with a clear tumbler full of cold water and a sweet roll. She recognized the food and was suddenly aware that she was starving.  
"Who are you?" She asked, sitting back patiently until he held the food out to her from his chair. She took the plate and cup, sitting cross legged and setting the tumbler between her legs and consuming the roll.  
"Victor."  
She nodded, pulling the top off the tumbler after she set aside the plate. She gulped down the water, wiping her mouth with her hand. "Why did you grab me?"  
"To protect you. I know what they're doing to you."  
Keka shut out the images of the terrible things that the man who'd chased her had done.  
"Will they look for me?" She asked, terrified that she would have to go back to the steel coated lab and the dark, cold room.  
"Yes. But they won't find you." He nodded. "Not here."  
Keka sniffed carefully at the air-there was a damp, slightly unpleasant smell invading her nostrils. Another man entered the room, much smaller then Victor, with odd, murky yellow eyes and green skin.  
"Whatcha got here, Vicky?" The man asked, crouching next to his chair.  
"A Feral child." He turned to her. "What's your name, Little one?"  
"Keka." She said shortly, studying the new man.  
"Well, hello Keka. I'm Mortimer-you can call me Toad." The man smiled, holding out his hand. Before Keka could put hers in his, Victor intercepted it.  
"Well thanks, Vic." Toad feigned annoyance.  
"I didn't get to see your hands last night." He dismissed Mortimer. Small hands with stocky fingers and solid black clawlike nails. Her entire body was covered in a barely noticeable velvet fuzz, her skin pale. Her face was innocent and sweet, with wide iridescent eyes, dark lips and a small, feline like nose. Her ears were almost elf like, except for the fact that they moved and tensed with her emotions, flattening out when she was scared or angry, and tensing when she was uncertain, but otherwise unnoticeable under black, silken hair. Unless you knew they were there.  
"Victor, what are you looking for?" Toad asked quietly, hardly out of what he knew was the little girl's reach.  
Victor never answered, just studied the young child, closing his large hands around hers.  
  
  
Victor held tight to the tiny paw, pulling with minimal strength.  
"Little one, come on." He said with minor irritation.  
Keka shook her head, her messy black hair swishing over her wide eyes. She grasped a thick wooden pillar with one hand, digging her claws into the wood. She yanked her hand free as soon as Victor let up on his grip, clinging to the pillar.  
"No." She looked up at him stubbornly.  
Victor rolled his eyes- seven year olds were hard to deal with. She'd been in the house for a week, and it was difficult to make her leave. Her senses and skills had a risk of weakening in isolation.  
"Why?" He crouched to her level, meeting her eyes.  
"I'm scared!" She exclaimed, looking toward the open door. A car honked off in the distance, making her jump with a yip, scrambling into Victor's arms. He cradled her affectionately, his big hand protectively at her neck.  
Mortimer laughed to himself, watching them. *Vic acts like such a toughguy,* He thought. *But look at our big cuddly cat now!*  
Victor lifted Keka up, balancing her on his bent knee to look at her.  
"Why are you scared, little one?" He asked.  
Mort grinned-it was almost like watching a careful lion and his cub; his massive paws engulfing most of her small torso.  
"What if they come for me?" She asked in a tiny voice. "What if they take me back to the lab?" Her voice grew more desperate by the second. "What if they take me away from you, Vic-"  
"Ssssh." He pulled her close, cradling her head. "I wouldn't let them take you away from me." He whispered.  
Mort could barely hold his laughter- Vic was going soft for this little girl! It was a distinct change from him stomping around, growling and spitting his words.  
Victor set Keka on the floor, standing up. "Now, are we ready?"  
"No." She said, smiling innocently.  
"What?" Victor sighed. "Why?"  
Keka smiled, holding up her arms to him and stretching her tiny digits.  
Victor laughed, scooping her up and moving to the door, his long coat sweeping behind him. Keka wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers curling in his scruffy blonde hair. He tromped out of the house, his giant boots thudding on the floor as he closed the door.  
Mortimer stepped into the room, looking at the door with a semi sincere look, seconds before falling down in laughter.  
  
  
~Present Day~  
Keka strolled through the forest, her powerful arms crossed over her stomach. She was bruised, but in good condition. The cool crunch of sticks under her boots was a comfort to her-it reminded her of the sounds of Victor walking across the ground.  
Victor. She still thought of him as Victor, never as who he really was, or what he really meant to her... 


	3. The Child Stumbles

As promised-another chapter.  
  
  
  
~6 Years Earlier~  
Keka stretched in the middle of the room, feeling the grains of the floor as her bare feet slid across the hardwood. Victor howled from another room, growling in his undertone.  
She padded into the hallway, following the sound of his voice. Finally, she heard others calmly trying to settle him; Toad, and Magneto. She stopped at the doorway, expertly inching the door open to peek inside. She tensed up as the scent of anger and fear exploded on her. She could hear Victor's usually steady heartbeat, volatile and unstable-He was actually frightened of something. Her ears perked and quivered at the simple sound of the voices in the room.  
"Please, Victor, keep your composure. You're blowing this out of perspective-"  
"What perspective, Erik? Who's? It's my perspective that matters in this room; Mine and hers."  
Keka froze, mid sniff. They were yelling about her?  
"She can't stay here any longer-they're coming to me to ask about a Feral girl, and I don't know how long I keep them at bay." Magneto was far from angry, but he wasn't happy with the situation.  
"She has to stay-she has no where else to go." Victor stated.  
"Victor, you have to let her go- She's 16, she'll fend her own way-"  
"I can't let her go, Erik."  
There was an air of confusion, especially within Keka. She was surprised that Victor didn't smell her by now.  
"Why can't you let her go, Vic?" Toad asked.  
"Because she's my daughter."  
Keka lost her steady balance and tumbled into the room, knocking the door into the wall with a crash. She didn't feel the ground rushing up to meet her body-she kept hearing Victor's words in her head as she looked up at him.  
"Keka-"  
"No." she shook her head violently, standing up and bolting out of the room. She flew down the hallways, Victor close behind.  
"Keka, please-"  
"No! You're lying! You're not my father!" She ran blindly, tears that she hadn't cried in seven years streaming over her skin. "You're lying!"  
"Keka, stop!"  
Keka skidded into her room, slamming the door behind her. The wood splintered as it hit, recoiling towards her. She pulled open her closet, collecting her shoes and her coat as Victor burst into the room after her.  
"Keka, you don't know what you're doing-"  
"Shut up! I don't wanna hear you talk anymore!" She cried, shutting the closet door and trying to push past him.  
"Keka, please." Victor took her gently by the wrist, collecting her in his arms. "Please, listen."  
"No!" She sobbed. "You've lied to me! You're lying now, aren't you? You aren't my father-"  
"I *am* your father. You have my mutations. We're of the same blood, the same code, the same smell. That's how I found you." Victor tried to calm her. "You're too used to your own scent, or you would have questioned it."  
"No...no...." Keka shook her head, her ears flattened in distress. Her knees buckled and she began to fall to the floor, Victor sinking with her, collecting her small frame in his lap and rocking her gently.  
"I'm sorry, Keka, I'm so sorry."  
"You never told me. You never told anyone. Why didn't you tell me? What are you scared of?" She sobbed, curling against his chest.  
"Please Keka, understand-"  
"I can't...." She whimpered. "No, why did you lie to me?" She struggled against him, pushing her hands against his chest to shove him back, but the man was much stronger then the girl.  
"Little one, please, don't."  
"Let me go!" Keka howled in heartbreak- her steady little world was crumbling around her, all because of Victor. Because of her father.  
Keka snarled and pushed, sobbing harder and harder. Victor felt his heart splintering to see the daughter he'd watched grow up reject him so violently.  
"Get off of me! I hate you! Let me go!" Keka wailed, shoving at his arms.  
Victor finally dropped his hands from her, letting her scramble across the floor and out of the room away from him.  
  
Keka was hardly 30 feet from the house, carried on developed Legs, before she was laying on the ground, a sharp hot pain spreading from her neck over her body. It was a feeling so far from the healing process she held within that it scared her. She tried to scream, to cry out for help, but found that she couldn't move her mouth. Her eyes were fuzzing, and her hearing was fading, her sense of smell the only thing that aided her. She could smell the scent of the man from so long ago, and of the woman who had been with him.  
"I knew we'd find her." The woman snapped.  
Keka tried to move, to lash out at them, but her body was almost completely numb. She was aware that her head was being lifted, and that a muzzle had been attached to her face, and restraints to her wrists and ankles.  
The man lifted her easily, loading her into a van. The only thing the man or woman noticed about her, besides that she had grown, was that she lay perfectly still, except for her twitching right ear.  
  
~Present Day~  
Keka inhaled deeply, tasting the air in the back of her throat. The earthy scent of the rain that fell on the treetops above her conflicted her momentarily before finding her in a safe, soothed state.  
Keka stopped midstep, quietly setting her booted foot on the ground. She caught an roughly familiar, overriding scent, the feeling that she was being watched flattening her ears to her head. Her right ear twitched madly.  
"Who's there?" She felt her muscles tighten and her hands tensed, ready to attack, or possibly defend. There was the crack of twigs from somewhere in the forest and a metallic scraping.  
"I said, who's there?"  
"Sabretooth?" A gravel voice barked.  
"What of him?" Keka asked, feeling threatened. A low growl rose in her throat involuntarily.  
The woods grew quiet. All at once Keka recognized parts of the smell-Adamantium, and sweet tobacco smoke.  
"Who are you?" A figure stepped into the clearing, all of 6 foot tall, she assumed, stubbly unshaven and of a sturdy build with a heavy, gruff voice.  
Keka broke her stance, sensing more confusion in the air then danger.  
"I should ask you the same."  
"Wolverine." The man took a step closer to her.  
"Custom." She held out a clawed hand to him. 


	4. The Child Falls

~6 Years Earlier~  
She'd been gone for weeks, seeming to have disappeared, body and smell, Despite Victor's extensive searching. After she'd taken off, he'd sat on the ground for longer then he could realize, empty, before he had been up and out of the house in a sweep after a strong, tangy scent within Keka's own, that in moments was gone.  
Now all he could do was restlessly turn in his bed, worried.  
Victor bolted up in his bed, his ears ringing. Keka's piercing screams filled the air as he clammered to follow the sound and her suddenly present scent, acidic with pain and terror.  
He followed her trail to the alley way where he'd found her when she was seven. She screamed, Cringing against the wall and crying in pain. She bled from hundreds of cuts, bruised with wide, brightly glowing white eyes. Victor watched in amazement as they slowly closed smaller and smaller, some of them healing before she stumbled away from the wall, blood beginning to flow again.  
Victor caught his teetering daughter as she fell to her knees, sobbing and giving a feline like yowl of pain and misery.  
Victor drew her kneeling form into his lap as best her could, his usually destructive hands gently cradling her head. He felt hot tears flooding over his fingers as Keka cried.  
"Little one, please..." he was helpless to her crying-she was suffering. Cuts reformed and opened on her face, blood tingeing her tears. "Keka.."  
"D....daddy..." She whimpered, her hands weakly clutching at the thick wrists at either side of her head.  
"Keka, don't talk." Her blood was running down her skin in obscene red tears. She crumpled against him, her body racked with sobs. She wore a tattered blue hospital dress, covered in blood and grime. Her hair was dirty and matted, pulled back from a swollen neck.  
Victor gathered her in his arms, running into the empty streets.  
  
~Present Day~  
Keka dropped her hand after a few moments. *Pleasant guy* she thought sullenly.  
"Where's Sabretooth?" Wolverine looked around.  
"Question of the lifetime." Keka shrugged bitterly.  
"He's not with you?"  
"No."  
Wolverine looked momentarily confused, the look washing away quickly.  
"Then you just left him. He's all over you."  
Keka winced. "I left him 8 years ago. I'm his daughter." 


	5. Pick Me Up

~6 Years Earlier~  
Victor reluctantly groped at the Mansion's communication system, holding Keka tightly.  
"Who's there?" A bubbly girls voice chirped.  
"Help." Victor barked-a name would bring an bloodthirsty Wolverine straight to the door.  
"What?"  
"We need help." He growled.  
There was a creak as the door opened a few moments later; Jubilee peered out.  
"Ooooooh No; whatever you're selling, we don't want it!" She began to pull the door shut.  
Victor pushed his boot into the door. "Jubilation, I need to talk to Beast."  
Jubilee eyed the giant man and the bloody, whimpering girl in his arms-she barely moved, her breathing raspy.  
"Wolvie!" Jubilee wailed into the school, keeping her eyes on him.  
Logan was at the door in moments, his eyes switching from Victor to the girl in his arms and back again.  
"What've you done?" He asked, stepping forward in an attempt to take her.  
Victor stepped back, snarling protectively. "This is *my* child." He growled.  
Surprise passed over Logan's eyes. He pushed a suddenly stoic Jubilee back to let Victor step in, leading him to Hank.  
~  
Victor paced the hallway, his claws clenched and his coat flying with each turn. Wolverine watched him in seeming amazement; big bad cat, flustered by a child-a child that no one knew about. Everyone thought Grayden had been it; the only passing of the Creed genes.  
"Where is she?" Victor asked, looking towards the door that Keka had been carried through a few hours before by the fur-covered doctor.  
"Calm down-Hank knows what he's doing." Logan reassured him. "She's in capable hands."  
Victor paced all the same.  
"What happened?" Logan asked carefully.  
"I don't know."  
"Where di-"  
Victor cut him off with a warning snarl, continuing his pace.  
Logan forged on. "What's her n-"  
Victor glared at him, letting out a strong roar. Logan sat back, shutting his mouth.  
Hank exited the lab, adjusting his glasses.  
"Victor? What are you doing here?"  
"Sabes brought the lil lady on the table in fer ya." Logan pointed to Keka's prone form, regaining his former luster.  
"Watch it, runt" Victor grumbled halfheartedly.  
"Where did you find her? What happened to her?" Hank was almost too eager to ask, escorting Victor into the lab.  
"I don't know. I found her in an alley nearby. I'm pretty sure that she'd been in a laboratory for weeks."  
Hank nodded-he hadn't expected even that much information.  
"We don't know how much aware you are of your connection with this girl, Victor, but-"  
"I tracked her down when she was seven, by scent."  
"You know then. There's a lot of your look in her." Hank smiled. "Does she-"  
"She ran when she found out." Victor hadn't looked away from her. "What can you tell me?"  
"A lot of what you already know, most likely." Hank stepped around to the otherside of the table. "She's Feral, so her animal senses are nearly identical to yours, and a slightly different regenerative factor. Instead of a faster natural healing process, she can vary it's speeds, making it as fast as yours or Logan's, or slower then a normal humans."  
"I knew that. The difference comes from her mother."  
"Who does carry the maternal instincts with this one?"  
"Her name was Lauren. She was an unknown, a healer. Because she could heal others, her own process was slower." Victor said solemnly. "And about what *they* did to her?"  
"Well, whatever they'd planned, they never finished. She's still got extensive amounts of memory of you and her friends and former home-at least, that's what I gathered from her fleeting conscious bouts before I had to put her under." Hank pulled her X-rays. "But some of the worst-most painful, I mean, is done. They've overlaid her bones with Adamantium, same as our friend Logan over here." Hank rose one fuzzy hand in Logan direction, where he'd lost his sense of humour. He extended his claws for a moment, looking at them.  
"They put Claws in my Daughter?" Victor looked furious.  
"No. Logan's claws were bone-covered in Adamantium."  
Logan bowed his head, commiserating with Keka. "So she was part of..."  
"No." Hank shook his head confidently, his blue hair fluttering. "Even though we don't have significant amounts of information on your and Victor's..erm...experience, I can assure you that She isn't part of it. This was another matter altogether-only, we're not sure what."  
Victor trailed the flat of his fingers gently over her cheek.  
"She'll live?"  
"Most assuredly." Hank smiled at her. "May I ask her name?"  
"Keka." Victor said warmly. "Keka Creed."  
  
~Present Day~  
"You're Keka Creed?" Wolverine stepped toward her.  
"How do you know my name?" She matched his step, moving away from him.  
"I didn't recognize you. And you don't remember me. You wouldn't believe some of the things I know about you." Wolverine grunted, almost reminiscently.  
"What are you saying?" Keka's face hardened and her ears flattened in Anger.  
"Whoa, cool yer jets, Kid." He chomped on a cigar, searching for a light. "Unclench yer claws down there-I can see that yer old man passed ya some of his smarter traits."  
Keka took another step back, dropping her defense stance as Wolverine found a lighter and set his cigar aflame, puffing contently.  
"He taught me well. " She said evenly. "How do you know my father? Who are you?" Keka stood conflicted.  
"We're not exactly what you'd call 'old *friends*', but we've been aquatinted, more then once. Name's Logan."  
"You're Logan?"  
"Oooh, he talks about me. I feel so special." Logan deadpanned.  
"He never....I didn't...."  
"Out with it Kid, I'm thinkin' you got a crush the way you stumble."  
"Hardly." She wrinkled her nose at him. "My father said you were weak...you didn't seem that way when you were set to Kill me."  
"I may be weak compared to yer dad...." Logan looked up at her. "Sorry kid."  
"My father isn't so vicious." She said, her face beginning to soften. Keka looked sad suddenly, like a hurt innocent.  
"Listen, Kid, I'm sorry." Logan pitched his cigar on the ground, stomping it out as he stepped toward her, laying a wary hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off.  
"Don't be, It's my own fault for going off on a trip like that-I don't have time for it."  
"What's yer rush, lil lady?" Logan asked.  
Keka Looked into the woods. "Finding my Daughter." 


	6. Heal My Wounds

~6 Years Earlier~  
Keka's eyes fluttered open, her senses slowly sparking back to life.  
She smelled strong medicines, mixed with the scents of the people in the room. She smelled Victor- her father- along with the two separate smells of Sweet tabacco smoke, and of rainwater.  
"Where am I...where's the rain coming from..."  
Wolverine looked from Keka to Hank, and then briefly at Victor before moving quickly back to Hank.  
"She's delirious...coming back off-"  
"No- that's you." Victor grumbled. Logan held back a snort of laughter.  
"Oh. Well...that's useful information, actually." Hank shrugged. "She'll be back to full consciousness come a few hours,"  
"Good." Victor Crouched to look at his daughter, dismissing everyone else in the room. "Keka, I'll be back later-sleep tight."  
"Where..."  
"Don't fret it, little one. I'll be back soon enough." He said softly, stroking her tattered right ear. The chunk missing made it look like it belonged to an alley Tomcat rather then to his 16 year old daughter. It only fueled his anger.  
  
~~  
Victor saw everything in a red haze-the sidewalks, the streetlights, the people. The rain that pattered gently on his head was hardly felt, and the feeling of the concrete under his boots didn't register. The only thing that stood out among Sabretooth's rage was the everstrong trail of Keka's smell, intermingled with fear and pain.  
~~~  
Dr. Kelber sat in his office, flipping through paperwork and files on his custom child; the tiny feralish girl that had gotten away.  
"DOCTOR!" Ms Odin screamed, bloodcurdlingly sharp in the silence. There were various crashes in the front Lab, the sound of glass breaking and cages rattling.  
"Ms Odin?" He stepped into the front lab. Everything was trashed-broken and spurting electrical shorts. Within seconds, the normally calm lab had become a battle zone scale model. He stepped back into his office, picking up the phone and finding no tone.  
Sabretooth looked down at the woman, whose dead body twitched in the aftermath of life so suddenly leaving. Her multiple, deep gashes still pulsed as blood flowed from them. He flicked off a nearby switch, blackening the entire building-he assumed that from the angry, confused yell from the 'good' doctor in the back office. Sabretooth moved to the door, which was quickly closing, through the blackness that was to him merely fog after a momentary adjustment, shoving it open and focusing on the man with Keka's scent so strongly on him.  
"Who's there?" The man was panicked, his arms in front of his face.  
"Come on, now." Sabretooth stood in the doorway, tapping his claws against the wall. "Afraid of someone you can't Tag?" He asked.  
"Who are you?"  
Sabretooth charged, his voice thundering across the room in notes that could have never been words. His hands found the doctors throat, forcing him off his feet and against a wall.  
"What did you do to her?" He demanded, a low growl remaining in his throat.  
"What....Who..."  
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY CHILD?!" His claws tapped dangerously on the man's neck. "The Feral."  
There was silence for a moment as Sabretooth's hands pressed him against the wall.  
"She was my project..."  
"SHE IS A CHILD, NOT A TOY. What were you doing."  
"She got away, before we could when she was smaller-she was to stay the size of a pup, a wise child...We were her teachers...she never learned what we didn't teach h-"  
"Teachers? You have the *nerve* to call yourself a TEACHER? I don't care how many times you've seen "Interview with a Vampire"; an eternal child, a helpless innocent, won't work with a *feral*." Sabretooth said viciously. "At SEVEN she was too smart for you; how did you expect her to stay *Just* stupid enough to believe she was your little PLAYTHING?"  
"Who are you?" The doctor asked again, his hands grasping furiously at Sabretooth's hands. "*What* Are yo-"  
Sabretooth, disgusted with the sound of the doctor's questions, placed a hand on his chest and malevolently ripped his throat out, spraying himself with blood in the process. He carefully wiped his hands and face on one of the spare lab coats, tucking the rest under his arm.   
He plucked the thick file labeled 'Custom' off the desk on his way out.  
  
~Back at the Lab~  
Keka smiled, watching Bobby Drake and Beast bicker back and forth.  
"Once you get going with all that technical mumbo jumbo, you babble on forev-"  
"I've told you before, Bobby, I do NOT babble." Hank scowled.  
"Suuuure you don't. Just like you don't blush." Bobby smirked.  
"I've NEVER blushed."  
"Sure." Bobby rose. "I'm outta here-you're in denial."  
"I could see you blushing." Keka nodded after Bobby had left.  
"If you could, it would be a serious symptom of delirium, Me Lovely." Hank Chuckled. "Let's take a temp, shall we?" He pulled out a thermometer, replacing the disposable shell.  
"Aw, come on! Han-Oomp."  
"Quiet please, Keka."  
"Ah Don Ned Dis."  
"You sound like Gambit."  
"Whoh?"  
"Nevermind."  
"Hank, caan ah-"  
"In a minute."  
Hank took the reading, tossing the mouthpiece into the trash.  
"What happened to me?" She asked, looking up at the door. Three girls; one in pink, one in a yellow coat, and one in black opera gloves gave her curious looks before being shooed off.  
"We're not quite sure now, dear, but we're doing our best to find out. Your Dad Is doing his best to find out." Hank reassured her, putting his hand over hers.  
"Thanks." She smiled.  
She looked up from Hank, her ears perking. She could hear his heartbeat, wild and inconsistent. She could smell him, full of blood; Of the blood of the doctor that had taken her into the lab and away from her father.  
Victor tramped into the room, tossing the extra lab coats into Hank's chest and proceeding to sit down in the chair next to Keka, looking at the floor.  
"Daddy?" She tested the air between them, scooting close to the edge of her bed as Hank moved away to leave the two of them in the lab, and to inspect the bundle that had been thrown at him.  
Victor looked up at Keka with identical cautious eyes. She looked at the blood spattered on his face and clothes, and in his hair. She listened hard to his heartbeat, trying to distinguish a pattern but unable to find one. She moved closer.  
"Keka...I, I don't know how to explain this to you." Victor averted his eyes to the floor. "I don't know if I really should tell you all...any of this-"  
Keka never said a word, just slipped off the bed and into his arms, burying her face in his chest. The surprised man slid his arms around her, holding his daughter close to him and breathing sighs of relief.  
Pressing herself into his dripping shirt, Keka could hear his heartbeat slowing and steadying, returning to the strong pulse that she'd known for as long as she cared to remember. 


	7. The Child Heals

It makes me sad that this story doesn't get the love like "Beachtide" does. I thought this one was okay..Please review.  
  
  
~Present Day~  
"You got a kid?" Logan asked, following her as she started into the woods again.  
"Yes. And she's gone at the moment, so I don't have the time to reminisce with you." Keka snapped. She stopped, holding out a hand to him. "Quiet." She slunk low, moving soundlessly through the thicket, sniffing the whole way.  
Logan could suddenly smell Rainwater.  
"Come on." Keka whispered. "I need your help if you're coming with me."  
"And I'm ready to give it. Just instruct me here." Logan said, moving to her side.  
Keka peered out into a clearing, where a small, pale feral child lay on the ground. She was bound at her hands and ankles. Keka's eyes glassed over in anger.  
"See the doctors?" Keka asked, pointing to the two men in white coats. "Keep them at bay. I don't care how, but keep them away from us."  
"Check." Logan nodded. He couldn't see how this could take any more then a few minutes-grab the kid and run.  
Keka darted out of the woods and to her daughter, dropping to her knees and furiously ripping at her restraints, shredding them within moments. Logan charged the doctors as they ran at her, slashing them with minor wounds. They fell back, gasping and yelling in more pain then they could have been in. Logan worried about a second set of doctors.  
"Keka," Logan turned toward her. "we gotta get outta here, darlin', let's -"  
Keka kneeled with her child, her hands cradling her face. Her wild eyes glittered brilliantly, settling on her daughter.  
"Keka! We Have To *Go*." He shouted, hearing the beat of more men rushing towards them. They were far off, but not for long.  
"She's not healthy, yet. I can't move her while I do this!"  
"Well then finish it later!" Logan screamed, running toward her. Finally, she pulled back, her eyes falling back to their iridescent colour. Logan gathered the child in his arms, taking off into the woods with Keka close behind him.  
  
~~~  
Logan shifted the child in his arms quickly, shuffling out of his coat and dropping it on the ground. Keka dropped to spread it out, bunching a sleeve to put under the tiny feral's head. He lowered her softly onto his coat, stepping back as Keka frantically took the child's head in her hands, her eyes staring to shine almost immediately.  
Logan moved toward her, getting a good look at the young girl she held in her hands; she was a pale blue, barely noticeable if you weren't near her, with frizzed layers of hair in thick curls of dark indigo. The scent of Rainwater radiated off her, fairly strong and constant.. It was undertoned by the signature Creed scent.   
"Please. Please." Keka mumbled to herself, the strange luminescence settling over the both of them.  
"Keka, I don't think it's safe to-"  
Keka cut into the safe quiet of the woods, screaming in animalistic yowls. Her back arched hard and her eyes went black, the glow vanishing from them. She released her daughter and tumbled back in the grass, coughing, tears flooding onto her cheeks.  
"Keka!" Logan dropped next to her shaking form. "Keka, what happened?"  
"I couldn't handle it." She moaned. "There's something wrong...I.... it's too much. I can't handle it."  
Logan helped Keka into a sitting position as she pushed herself off the ground, holding her head as her eyes slowly began to lighten. She regarded her trembling daughter with wide, grey eyes.  
"I have to get her help. I can't let her die." She said, crawling away from him and to the unconscious girl. "I won't let her die." 


	8. Keep Me Safe

Please Review  
  
  
~4 Years Eariler~  
Keka stumbled to the front gate of the mansion; a new but not surprising addition in her two year absence. She gripped the gate, in so much pain she could barely force herself to breath, let alone concentrate to heal, groping for the telecom.  
"Who's there?" A indistinguishable male voice crackled into the night.  
"Help me." Keka sputtered, losing her footing and collapsing to the ground, clutching her stomach.  
  
Logan tried to place the voice, the face of the girl dancing just beyond his range.  
"What is it?" Hank stepped into the foyer. "I heard the signal in the lab."  
"A girl. I know the voice, but I can't place it. She's asking for help."  
Hank contemplated his words. "Step outside with me Logan."  
"Hank, you don't know what-"  
"I won't refuse help. Besides-you're the only one who can get through the gate without a code, and there isn't another on the planet privy to claws like yours."  
Logan reluctantly followed the doctor into the darkness, sniffing around.  
"Hank, wait." He paused. "That's...Creed. Unmistakable."  
"Logan, did you say it was a girl?"  
"Sabretooth doesn't have a problem with forcing an innocent bystander into a lot of pain for entrance to a restricted area."  
"Do you remember, two years back, when Victor came to us for assistance with a youth, his daughter, that carried his scent, exactly?"  
"Yes."  
"Don't jump to conclusions, Logan." Hank continued on to the gate.  
"Alright Fuzzy, yer right-But never exclude-"  
"Mmhmm. I know Logan. And I'll thank you not to call me 'fuzzy'."  
"Sure thing, furball."  
Hank rolled his eyes,  
"Do you really think that's who it is?" Logan asked, still skeptical. "Do you think it's-"  
"Keka!" Hank punched in the code hurriedly, ducking underneath the rising gate. Keka stirred slightly at the sounds, moaning.  
"Oh my stars and garters." Hank lifted her hand, revealing a bleeding wound in her stomach. "Oh, my..." he wasted no time in gathering her into his arms, rushing her inside as Logan set about closing the gate.  
  
~~~  
Memories flooded Keka's mind, the mingling of two labs; one lab friendly and light, smelling of gauze and Rainwater, the second it's cold and steely opposite, smelling of chloroform and acid, and forever of blood. Screams echoed and cut through soft solace and a gentle, soothing voice with comforting words. She whimpered in her semi aware state.  
She was suddenly overpowered by the pleasant smell of Rainwater.  
Hank stood nearby, watching her vitals. Her monitors showed the massive activity amounts of someone who'd just been startled awake, rather then an unconscious girl. Her wounds had closed up almost instantly once she'd nodded out for sure, healing rapidly, the soft fuzz recovering the nonexistent scar. Hank was amazed by her.  
Keka could almost see his face, she was that close to the surface and yet still trapped in the horrific visions that flashed in her head. The smell was so strong that it made her want to cry; after so long alone she was desperate for a familiar face.  
Hank stepped closer to the bed as Keka whimpered, trembling visibly.  
"Please...." She twisted suddenly in the bed.  
"Keka?" Hank was unsure about waking her- about what it could do to her.  
"Henry...."  
"Keka? Keka-"  
She jerked upright in her bed, screaming in the extraordinarily Feline yowls. She struggled in her bed, frantically searching the room as he moved closer, cautiously grasping her wrists.  
"Hank." She connected with his eyes, pushing away from him slightly, panting like a wounded animal.  
"I'm right here. No need to panic, Me lovely."  
"Hank!" She leapt into his arms, burying her face in his neck and clinging to him. "It was too much...I was so lost."  
"It's okay, Keka, you're safe now." Hank enfolded her shaking body, holding her close. 


End file.
